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How can I use H1 Tag?

Started by Dgnttnc, September 09, 2019, 04:27:18 PM

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Dgnttnc

Hello everybody, I want subject title to be H1 tag and I want to use H1, H2 and H3 tag in within the subject. How can I do it?

Arantor

That would be misusing the tags for their intended purpose.

Dgnttnc

Maybe but for seo I want to use it that way and I think it will work.

Arantor

Aside from the small fact that there are already H1 tags in use in the default theme, and the fact that SEO basically doesn't exist on user-generated-content sites like forums.

Kindred

in short, you'd have to modify multiple templates....   and possibly some other code within the message parser
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

drewactual

i've done it.. it takes some time but isn't impossible, and it makes a big difference with the big boy on the block google. 

but... it's not as easy as just encapsulating scripts in tags, else you'll confuse the engines which is worse than not having them.  some of that needs to happen (encapsulating script- example: wrapping category or board names in h1's and thread titles in h2's on/in your boardindex.template), but... the 'real' benefit i've discovered is simply a hidden div with an h1 that is dynamically added with specific language for the category or board in particular.. therefore distinguishing it from other categories/boards on your forum and driving those magic words after the name on the search results.

a practice that has worked for me is using an exterior php file(s) and including it in indextemplate, boardindex, messageindex and display templates... it also allows you to have images included or excluded for chosen boards, and different functions on different boards.  in my humble opinion it really makes SMF pop, and that is for users and for search engines alike. 

Kindred

Actually common doing that With hidden divs will get you blacklisted by Google when they discover it
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

drewactual

it hasn't impacted negatively at all... for more than two years. 

Arantor

Hidden divs aren't unilaterally bad any more, they're how responsive works for a lot of sites (including SMF responsive). Google tries to infer the point of the hidden divs and if they're just there for keyword stuffing, yes, that will get you into trouble but if they're there for actual purposes, they're probably ok.

In this case I actually think you're probably ok because (without checking) I assume you've replaced the h1 that SMF normally uses with an image and the hidden div gets picked up and treated (slightly by accident) as a screen reader replacement for the image. So it works for you but maybe not for the reason you suspect.

drewactual

i DID replace the SMF H1.. there is only one on any page, but there is one on ALL pages- the php include if/elseif/then statements allow a specific h1 to be used on the page in question... i.e. the main page (home) has one.. each board has a specific one.. the only 'issue' is i haven't (and i'm not real worried about it) figured out how to have the h1 from messageindex follow into display using the h1 specific for that board. 

it's in that^ case i encapsulated the thread title in an h1, posts in h2's, and usernames in h3's.  i've found that folks like using the same username a lot of places, and a lot of my users have strong reputations across the web- so 'advertising' that they have made a comment pays some dividends.

i'm NOT saying this is RIGHT- I just don't know what is or isn't- but i can tell you it works for my site... given the metrics don't change it's done very well.  when i moved (back) to pretty URL's i took a hit- all the way into the mid/low 50's... from the high 20's.  i took that same opportunity to implement the tags, and i'm now at 17- being as high on a daily glance at 11 and as low as 32...

look- i appreciate all the things you guys do for the community- it's something i'm wholly incapable of doing... i don't question the 'rules' as you guys understand them insofar as SEO as it's something else i know only a little about... but i share my own experiences in hopes to contribute back to the community that started me off- and... the posts in this thread are my experiences.... will it last? i don't know... google changes metrics like i change socks.  will it get me noticed in the meantime? most likely...

on the same subject, re: prettyURL's- don't make a bit of difference insofar as engines are concerned... they've had little to zero impact.... but they DO impact when first time users see a link- establishes some sort of trust about what they're about to click on.  prettyURL's basically are for people- organic eyes wired to organic gray matter.  tags are for giving information to engines so they can explain to users what the page is about before they click on it (while seeing it in results)... that's about all my understanding of it.

Arantor

I appreciate you're trying to give back, we all are, the difference is the advice as given could easily go out of context and end up causing users to actually shoot themselves in the foot by not doing *all* of the steps (e.g. as directed the OP would have ended up with multiple h1 tags on the page which is a problem)

And yes, your folks have presence - and that's what's the underlying power to your rep, tags are somewhat incidental and likely less impactful than it might seem. Problem is Google won't tell anyone how they rank because it'll be abused, and there's an awful lot of "I did this and it worked" when often they did other things that in tandem made the site work better. Often just investing the time pays off dividends on its own.

Also agreed on the pretty URLs front, have been preaching that truth for years now.

drewactual

#11
if i inferred multiple H1's, I retract.   if there is any value in this, it is only from my own understanding which i admit is limited.


FOR A FORUM'S MAIN PAGE:
h1's ought to be ONE per page. .... however, using (same)one for the entire webpage isn't showing off what value the page has... each page within SMF ought to be different.  let's say three categories and three boards within those categories for nine total boards.  Personally, i'd leave the categories alone and focus on boards.. having H1's describing the boards WHILE ON THAT BOARD makes sense, no? having the h1 change depending on the board is of value in my opinion.

h2's should be used with restraint and only for interchangeable purposes....  ... i.e. the page should have ONE H1, but those nine boards? it would be smart to have each one's title as an h2.  why? it tells search engine's 'hey, this is important to know', and they respond by saying in search results (h1)YOUR FORUM(/h1)(h2)broad subject(/h2)(h3...

h3's should be used when sending something of value only.. something that differentiates this text from that..... such as a subject of a thread WHILE ON THE MAIN PAGE.  completing the thought above, (h1)YOUR FORUM(/h1)(h2)broad subject(/h2)(h3)thread title(/h3)

i personally don't use h4's and descending.. except for style.. i use them for that here and there.

FOR A BOARD (messageindextemplate)
h1's ought to be ONE per page. .... but it's nice to have a specific h1 for the board in question... why? because google indexes pages not just sites... if someone is googling for 'small block chevy double hump head valve adjustment' and finds a named (h1)SMALL BLOCK CHEVY(h1) and ten more titled in the results and from h1's "small block chevy heads", which are they going to choose? 

h2's should be used with restraint and only for interchangeable purposes....  ... for boards the h2's should likely be the thread title.. using example above (h1)Small Block Chevy(/h1)(h2 and the thread title)What lash have you set on your double hump heads when using 45# bee hive springs?(/h2) you now have that google users attention... if you follow up with:

h3's should be used when sending something of value only.. something that differentiates this text from that..... (h3 or the comment)I found that setting the lash a 1/4 turn after 30 inch pounds of torque is snug enough not to float but loose enough to keep strain off of valve seats and stems alike(/h3)

then, for displaytemplate, h1's should likely be the thread title (also the page title), h2's the comment themselves, and again i like showing off my users by having h3's for the username... case in point- username "torque" has a reputation across message boards as being really good at what he does, and a user sees that name in search results gives your page weight...

it would look (in the search results) something like:

SMALL BLACK CHEVY FORUM Working on SBC Heads for best performance
it seems that double hump heads like #45 valve springs set a 1/4 turn past 30# inch-ft of torque for best performance, not floating the valve at high RPM's, and still allowing tight seat and less stress on stems- Torque.
https//fictionalsbcforum.xxx

^THAT is the power of leveraging heading tags...

Arantor

Quote^THAT is the power of leveraging heading tags...

What about meta description or og:description? These are both known to be higher priority for building search results than any other tag use at this time (and this shows that Google has inferred reasonably correctly about your content but maybe not for long)

drewactual

i still use meta description and certainly the og description too... those aren't as easy to change from page to page, though.. i've read meta descriptions have been downgraded in terms of importance, but.... for how long? in what circumstances? ...

i guess the point is to address all of them- title tags, et al. 

a funny story:  when i typed out my first Open Graph on a page some years ago, i put something 'cutesy' in the description tag while asking myself "why am i even doing this"... to this day on some engines that line shows up.  i changed it as soon as i saw it the first time, but it had already been recorded- and it's like velcro or something.  i handed that page off to someone and after a month or so they called me asking me 'how do i change this?' and i had to explain why it was there... oops. 

Arantor

See, all the anecdotal evidence I have still shows meta description/og:description as being used in preference to content from the page - if the robot overlords decide it represents the page content better, and if it's not stuffed with keywords or something generic.

Yup, the point is to address all of them - but at the same time don't let it rule your life.

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